So some folk on here think shenmue 4 should be the last game well.......

Zhenmue

Zhenmue

Joined
Nov 27, 2019
I dont agree as I believe if that was the case we would have a rather jumbled condensed narrative not unlike the castle section in shenmue 3 or the last season of startrek enterprise could you imagine a whole game with that kind of pace I really don't think anyone would like that not in a shenmue game atleast

So no I dont want 4 to be the last unless it ends up being in condensed and about 60 hours long I would prefer 5 or 6 games more if possible but I also know this should all happen before yu is 70
 
I'd rather have a Shenmue game where something happens, instead of 40 hours of glorified padding, like... Y(o)u know... Some other game which was released recently.

More plot development and character development is exactly what S4 needs. Condensing things will probably do the game a lot of good and will prevent Yu from building an unnecessarily big map, a stupid faces game and 6000 new capsule toys, 20 arcades and 50 mini games.

Use the mini games and the jobs we have again and make the game matter. With the foundation we have now and Yu's focus back on the important things, S4 will be a masterpiece.
 
Before, during and after the Kickstarter, Suzuki said that Shenmue 3 would definitely not be the final game as the story would feel rushed.

Yet Suzuki has always flip-flopped and remained undecided on 4 or 5. He's always envisioned Shenmue being "about 4-5 games long", stating the following:
  • The story ending in 3 would make for a rushed, flat story.
  • The story ending in 4 is possible.
  • The story ending in 5 is what he would like in a perfect world.
To me, that doesn't sound like Shenmue 4 ending things would be this massive compromise that would butcher the story and hurt his vision. In fact, its still in-keeping with his vision ("Shenmue is about 4-5 games").

Would I have liked 10 Shenmue games to flesh out every last scribble Yu made in the '90s with no room for editing? Absolutely! But we're not living in a perfect world and Yu has too many factors against him if he wants more sequels: Shenmue 3's lacklustre sales and mediocre reception, clickbait journalists who hate the series, funders who might now be saying "This shit ain't worth it", Yu's approaching retirement with his family etc.

The smart thing to do would be to pack everything into one more, high-quality sequel. Heck, make it a 60-hour game if you like. But setting up more sequels irrespective of Shenmue 3's mixed reception that risks shelving the IP once more? That's incredibly risky.

And while I love Shenmue 3, as @hyo_razuki says, some fans are mixed on the game as it was so fleshed-out it ended up not covering as much story. Shenmue 4 covering more story while still making room for FREE style exploration ala Shenmue 2 might actually be beneficial.
 
The thing is though the lack of story progression in this game my verry well of been due to a chapter or section being cut which may not of been planned from the start which dose also mean that there is even more that has to be coverd in 4 and mabe 5 even 6 lol if they really do cram 60% of the story into one game who knows what will end up being cut or condensed these 4 leaders of the chi yu man could end up just being a QTE similar to those guys at the end of 3 .

Is that really what you all want
 
I think some of us are thinking getting Shenmue 4 would be a miracle. That’s why we’re hoping he can figure out how to wrap things up.
 
3 will demonstrate to partners that the Shenmue series is not a commercially beneficial series. It's not laid a glove on the mainstream and will remain a niche series to a dedicated fanbase. I think we're now in a situation where it's all down to the goodwill of the partners on whether or not we get 4.

If we do get 4, then I think Yu has to make the call on wrapping up the series there and then, unless he can negotiate further with partners on how it can be wrapped up with a fifth - providing they're happy to finance it.
 
The thing is we have no conclusive data on the sales of 3 just yet so we dont really know how well it's doing plus it's gonna get released in China later and I bet it sells like crazy there so I think evaryone is jumping the gun on the negativity at the moment
 
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Zhenmue said:
I dont agree as I believe if that was the case we would have a rather jumbled condensed narrative not unlike the castle section in shenmue 3 or the last season of startrek enterprise could you imagine a whole game with that kind of pace I really don't think anyone would like that not in a shenmue game atleast

So no I dont want 4 to be the last unless it ends up being in condensed and about 60 hours long I would prefer 5 or 6 games more if possible but I also know this should all happen before yu is 70
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You answered your own question. I'd love many more, but he's just a man. If it's very hard to make the 4th happen, he needs to think hard what to put in it.
 
Zhenmue said:
The thing is though the lack of story progression in this game my verry well of been due to a chapter or section being cut which may not of been planned from the start which dose also mean that there is even more that has to be coverd in 4 and mabe 5 even 6 lol if they really do cram 60% of the story into one game who knows what will end up being cut or condensed these 4 leaders of the chi yu man could end up just being a QTE similar to those guys at the end of 3 .

Is that really what you all want
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LOL read what they did to him over the 3rd game. This is not about what he might have written in 98 or whenever. It's about the fact he now has a working engine for this gen, and new char models. That increases a chance of maybe 1 more game. This is reality. Read even here what they think about the 4th maybe not happening as a freaking game. He bit off more than he could chew way back when. Plus there are DLCs now, he can progress some % using them. I bought a season pass. I hope he does like 3.
 
Revan said:
Before, during and after the Kickstarter, Suzuki said that Shenmue 3 would definitely not be the final game as the story would feel rushed.

Yet Suzuki has always flip-flopped and remained undecided on 4 or 5. He's always envisioned Shenmue being "about 4-5 games long", stating the following:
  • The story ending in 3 would make for a rushed, flat story.

  • The story ending in 4 is possible.

  • The story ending in 5 is what he would like in a perfect world.
To me, that doesn't sound like Shenmue 4 ending things would be this massive compromise that would butcher the story and hurt his vision. In fact, its still in-keeping with his vision ("Shenmue is about 4-5 games").

Would I have liked 10 Shenmue games to flesh out every last scribble Yu made in the '90s with no room for editing? Absolutely! But we're not living in a perfect world and Yu has too many factors against him if he wants more sequels: Shenmue 3's lacklustre sales and mediocre reception, clickbait journalists who hate the series, funders who might now be saying "This shit ain't worth it", Yu's approaching retirement with his family etc.

The smart thing to do would be to pack everything into one more, high-quality sequel. Heck, make it a 60-hour game if you like. But setting up more sequels irrespective of Shenmue 3's mixed reception that risks shelving the IP once more? That's incredibly risky.

And while I love Shenmue 3, as @hyo_razuki says, some fans are mixed on the game as it was so fleshed-out it ended up not covering as much story. Shenmue 4 covering more story while still making room for FREE style exploration ala Shenmue 2 might actually be beneficial.
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If Lucas could freaking start with chapter 3, never even thinking he'd ever do 1 and 2 later, Suzuki can freaking do a recap between games on the bits he can't fit in. I wish he did that in Shenmue 2 before you got off the ship for example.Yeah, I think he can finish it in the 4th game, if he works on it as soon as DLCs are done for the 3rd. Chances diminish the longer it takes IMHO.
 
I want 4 to be the last game as well since I have no idea how 5 will work. I mean they already started to rush the story so they might as well. As long as 4 has a very long story driven game with little to no cuts, then it can work. Then again, we'll see what actually happens.
 
That Guy. said:
I want 4 to be the last game as well since I have no idea how 5 will work. I mean they already started to rush the story so they might as well. As long as 4 has a very long story driven game with little to no cuts, then it can work. Then again, we'll see what actually happens.
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I find it funny that you’re describing the story elements of 3 as rushed as I’d argue that the story seemed very drawn out. There were so few story beats in 3 and yet I think you’re actually right. The little story they did decide to include somehow came across as rushed which is pretty impressive.

It’s like a night out when that one friend nurses a single beer all night and then downs it when it’s time to go home. He didn’t drink much, but he drunk what he drank quickly.
 
I'd like 4 to be the last game, the engine is there, the fight system is there (just please add throws back into the mix), the economy, the game tools etc

For purely selfish reasons I can't stand not knowing whether the series will continue. I think I, and most of us here, would be super hyped going into 4 knowing it's the finale and a lot of other people would too.

Yu isn't getting any younger, and the series just has too much baggage for strong growth. Also, I'd love to see him end his career as a project lead on a new Virtua Fighter to end his career on a hit. Just add Ryo and Lan Di as guest characters and we can replay Ryo vs Lan Di until our dying days.
 
Down by Law said:
I'd like 4 to be the last game, the engine is there, the fight system is there (just please add throws back into the mix), the economy, the game tools etc

For purely selfish reasons I can't stand not knowing whether the series will continue. I think I, and most of us here, would be super hyped going into 4 knowing it's the finale and a lot of other people would too.

Yu isn't getting any younger, and the series just has too much baggage for strong growth. Also, I'd love to see him end his career as a project lead on a new Virtua Fighter to end his career on a hit. Just add Ryo and Lan Di as guest characters and we can replay Ryo vs Lan Di until our dying days.
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I'd rather he did another adventure game after Shenmue. Now unencumbered by what people expect. But that's because plain fighters bore me now. But for S4, if it's true he wants 4 epic fights VS 4 bosses of Chi Yu Men, he could do it very well in 1 good big game. People talk about QTE at the end of S3. LOL we got to actually fight Lan Di, even if we were shown we still stink. I think he has a chance with DLCs coming soon, to give more secret moves like predictive explosion. Moves that make you better at doing your other moves in other words. It'd explain why Ryo got better in S4, drastically better. Just thinking out loud. He'll do what he wants though.
 
tomboz said:
I find it funny that you’re describing the story elements of 3 as rushed as I’d argue that the story seemed very drawn out. There were so few story beats in 3 and yet I think you’re actually right. The little story they did decide to include somehow came across as rushed which is pretty impressive.

It’s like a night out when that one friend nurses a single beer all night and then downs it when it’s time to go home. He didn’t drink much, but he drunk what he drank quickly.
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As for it feeling drawn out, it seemed like what was drawn out was the little story that existed to cover for the fact that much story wasn't there in the game to begin with. That is why it took so long to get to the next part. There was more steps that normal it feels like. Even with 1 which was slow pace didn't feel like it was drawn out. The rushed part also was about the fact that they could not do any more story so it cost less time to draw it out than make more cutscenes, dialog, and such. That is what I'm guessing. I guess it makes sense as to why there was QTEs for fights that should have been real battles.

That is why I figured they might as well finish with 4 if they decided they wanted to go this route. I'm sure rushing the game was never planned, but they had no idea that their deadline would have approached so quickly which is what lead to it. If 4 does come out, I don't think they would get a lot of time or money on developing the game either which is why I figured they can fix this by ending it a 4 with a very long story based quest which won't feel unsatisfying.

I mean, sure I would not mind if we have a 5 or even a 6, but it seems highly unlikely that we will get all of that. It will be well into 2030 at such rate as well plus I wonder how long would a publisher want to pay making these games? I feel like 4 will not have the same hyper and momentum that 3 did with sales which is also way.
 
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Zhenmue said:
The thing is though the lack of story progression in this game my verry well of been due to a chapter or section being cut which

Well may not of been planned from the start which dose also mean that there is even more that has to be coverd in 4 and mabe 5 even 6 lol if they really do cram 60% of the story into one game who knows what will end up being cut or condensed these 4 leaders of the chi yu man could end up just being a QTE similar to those guys at the end of 3 .

Is that really what you all want
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Well yeah Baisha was def cut but besides that, we knew since 2010 that Shenmue 3 would be more of an inward story focusing on the relationship builing of Ryo and Shenhua. Yu said this story would be more inward not outward like S1 & S2.
But yeah, now after the fact, there's still a bit of ground to cover if you still factor in all the 'chapters' that are left (unless Yu plans to drastically alter them from their original novelized form)
 
If Shenmue 3 is a gauge for how much story substance we can except from future titles then I see no reason why Yu Suzuki can't fit Shenmue 4 & 5 into one game if he cuts the filler out this time. Because Niaowu can be scrapped entirely and Bailu can be trimmed down a bit to make room for more plotlines.
 
I don't know if cutting out Niaowu really was an option. I have seen quite a few reactions before release where people hoped that there would be a substantial city area in the game. Some were even hostile when they only saw the countryside and wrote that Shenmue was about exploring cities. It looks like the team tried to please both Shenmue 1 and 2 fans in Shenmue 3 by having both types of areas.
 
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ys. said:
Some were even hostile when they only saw the country side and wrote that Shenmue was about exploring cities.
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I keep forgetting people suck. Just let the man make his game, sheesh. Imagine if people did this shit after S1 and while Shenmue 2 was still in development
"Shenmue is about exploring Japanese suburbs!"
 
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